Time Travel discussion
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All You Zombies
Time Travel at the Movies
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Predestination (Cannes 2012 - bought by Sony)
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Had not heard about this one. Will definitely have to check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
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I started with Predestination which is based on one of Amy's favourite short stories, "All of us Zombies" by Robert Heinlein which I havent read but I look forward to hearing what Amy thinks of this adaptation and whether it was faithful or not...and the rest of you that read the short story and seen the film.
Bizarelly in uk this had the worst opening "general release" status I ever experienced for a film of this calibre.
In London, only one cinema was showing the film. One. And only one show for the day. AND on the smallest screen in UK. Think I am kidding about smallest? Its a 26 seater. I have more seats in my lounge if I include the dining table and beanbags. On top of that, only 17 seats were bookable as the front row seats are out of use. So basically, general release for this film means 17 people per day in London. I shouldnt really complain though because there are a lot of good American independent movies that didnt make it across the pond at all.
So anyway as one of the 17 Londoners that saw it, here are my thoughts...sorry its about time got round to that!
Superbly acted and directed, very captivating storyline that turns insane and twisty...
...and then ultimately transforms into complete nonsense.
Ok, its very calculated, deliberately structured nonsense. I use the word nonsense personally because the ultimate concept is one I have never been fond of in the time travel genre but many of you would probably enjoy. I wont say what that is because that will partly spoil the film's narrative and I don't ever do that.
In fact, I strongly recommend you dont even watch the trailer if you are already invested which you should be as a time travel fan! I cant even begin to tell you how much i have benefited in my movie going experience by staying clear away from trailers. This one in particular is mystifying right from the get go which will be spoiled if you do see the trailer. Even the synopsis turned out to be a revelation itself a third way into the film.
If you love films like Looper, Memento, The Prestige, Twelve Monkeys etc then high probability you will love this.
Its a low budget movie with minimal action. Its all about the story and the characters journeys and for the large part, its absolutely compelling.
As I said, I do have a big problem with this though and its a very unfair one to be honest considering this film is based on a very old short story by Robert Heinlein which for its time would have been an outstanding mind screwing piece of science fiction and i suspect this film did an admirable job of bringing it to the screen. Its just unfortunate that since then, the concept has been done quite a few times. So the film suffers slightly from that but to its credit, spins the tale with supreme taughtness and intense performances.
I think most of you that likes mind screwy films will dig this, however there is a high chance you might figure it out too early depending on your time travel literature "experience" because they dont hide the clues very well but if you dont, then enjoy the revelations (which personally I hate but as I said, that's my problem).
I loved the journey but ultimately hugely disappointed in the direction it ended up in.
So personally I give it
7/10
If you seen the film, I'll explain what i really hate in the following spoiler:
(view spoiler)
Tej wrote: "A beautifully and mesmerising paradox for sure but ultimately an illusion of impossibility. That is how I see the time travel loop"I'm sure you'll never get caught in a time travel loop, so it's all good.
Tej wrote: "...and like a dumbass fulfills .And like a dumbass fulfills..."
Whoops.
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I'm sure you'll never get caught in a time travel l..."
Dont quote text written in spoiler tags unless you include them in spoiler tags yourself please, James. Thanks.
ive corrected the dumbass duplication. this dumbass was typing on a dumbass smartphone.
Tej wrote: "Dont quote text written in spoiler tags unless you include them in spoiler tags yourself pl..."That's fair. I lost track of that, as I went.
Luckily, nothing I quoted is spoilerish, beyond what's already in the movie's description and trailer.
I saw this on the weekend -I am not sure if it was ever in theatres here, if it was, it was. It was for a very short run. (well I was going to edit this, but then James's post below would make no sense at all!)Although the basic plot of the movie is an impossible paradox,(putting aside the whole notion of time travel itself as science fiction) I thought the actors did an excellent job of portraying there roles. Of course Ethan hawk is no slouch, but relatively unknown Sarah Snook does an excellent job also.
I loved the story, instead of trying to tiptoe around paradoxes, and trying to explain them, the paradox is the story-a time travel classis is born.
Heather wrote: "if it was, it was. It was"It was.
Tej wrote: (view spoiler)I agree Tej that this movie did not pull it off so well. Yes, I think Heinlein wrote it better. I went and read the Heinlein short story after watching the film (story is only 13 pages long) and I think trying to make a full-length film from that simple and elegant short story kind of ruined it. They added too much "stuff."
Ethan Hawke is writing Time Travel movies? Apparently. And it's based on one of my favorite Robert A. Heinlein short stories, "All You Zombies" (no, it's not about zombies). Sold yet? I am. The movies “chronicles the life of a temporal government agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to stop future killers.”
*Hollywood Reporter News Article
*Collider.com News Article